Rarely have questions of household living standards and the shape of the public finances been so interwoven. The Autumn Statement – or, more specifically, the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook – identified a £25bn shortfall in tax revenues by 2018-19 relative to the projections in place at the time of Budget 2014. This is a … Continued

In tomorrow’s Autumn Statement, the Chancellor is expected to announce an updated Charter for Budget Responsibility, which would formally commit the government to a balanced cyclically-adjusted current budget by 2017-18. By forcing a vote in parliament, the Chancellor is thought to be drawing Labour out on their potentially looser fiscal policy. Yet this move also … Continued

How effective will advanced economies be at translating economic growth into higher wages for those in the low to middle part of the distribution and is this link weakening over time, reinforcing a ‘trickle-up’ tendency in mature economies? A great deal depends on these questions, yet they all too rarely are directly addressed. The answers … Continued

Another day, another think-tank report. That, no doubt, is how it must feel to news desks, political hacks and listeners of the Today programme alike. Many of those reports disappear without a trace. But of those that leave a mark some succeed in making an argument that chimes with the times even if it’s not … Continued

The theme of economic optimism that built during 2013 spilled over into today’s Budget—but only just. GDP is projected to rise more quickly over the next four years than was the case back in the autumn, and employment continues to out-perform expectations. But there are question marks over the extent to which people are feeling … Continued

While the latest set of labour market statistics which came out this morning suggested a slowdown in the rate of improvement, they don’t disguise what continues to be a very strong period for UK employment. The number of people in work passed its pre-recession peak of 29.6 million in the summer of 2012; since then … Continued